2021年6月22日托福阅读真题+题目+答案：The Early Cyclades 

2021年6月22日托福阅读真题+题目+答案：The Early Cyclades 

The Cyclades,a group of islands in the Aegean Sea to the east of mainland Greece,eventually played an important part in Greek civilization,though at first they were sparsely populated. Radiocarbon dates from excavations throughout the islands tell us that farmers had settled on Naxos as early as the fifth millennium B.C.E.Between 4000 and 3000 B.C.E.,farming communities flourished on Andros,relatively close to the mainland,as far out as Paros,and possibly on Mykonos,in the heart of the Cyclades.As far as one can tell,the early settlers avoided smaller islands,with their tiny patches of arable soil and often sparse water supplies.Milos was rich in obsidian,a volcanic glass used for tools and jewelry,and the island was certainly visited for fishing and fine-grained stone,but the first date for permanent occupation remains an open question.Throughout the Cyclades,the founding settlers seem to have preferred larger and medium-sized islands, even if they were far from the mainland.This speaks volumes about the seaworthiness of what by now must have been fairly large boats. Quite apart from anything else,such vessels would have had to transport sheep and goats across open water for as long as two days.

1.Why does the author mention that colonists would have had to “transport sheep and goats across open water for as long as two days"?

O To support the claim that the people who settled the Cyclades had large,dependable boats

O To argue that it is unlikely that people would have chosen to live on islands far from the mainland unless they had to

O To explain why colonists from mainland Greece rarely brought much livestock to the Cyclades

O To emphasize how little food was available on the Cyclades

2.Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about Naxos,Andros,and Paros?

O They are all relatively close to the mainland.

O They were all rich in obsidian and other natural resources.

O They are all relatively large for Cyclades islands.

O They were all settled later than Milos.

Why did people colonize islands far out in the Aegean?One theory argues that regular visits in search of obsidian,or for tuna fishing in otherwise inaccessible waters,might have led in due time to permanent settlement.Archaeological finds on the mainland do not support the obsidian hypothesis,for early obsidian finds are merely fragments,apparently carried back haphazardly.It was only much later,some centuries before 3000 B.C.E.,that much greater quantities of obsidian arrived on the mainland,deliberately prepared in a variety of ways,arriving as cargoes that included carefully hewed blocks of the volcanic glass.Whether greater loads resulted from colonization or simply from an increase in the tempo of exploitation and visitation is a matter for discussion.Nor is fishing a particularly compelling reason for colonization.Fish were never more than a dietary supplement in these waters,where marine life was far from abundant. Tuna migrations move rapidly and unpredictably,usually heading south in the fall.Laborious voyages in search of such an unreliable food source were not worth the trouble or the risk,given the difficulty of predicting them.

3.The word"merely"in the passage is closest in meaning to

A tiny

B often

C just

D unusual

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